CMP Media/O'Reilly Sics Lawyers on Nonprofit After Getting Trademark for Web 2.0

[mandy]

CMP Media (O'Reily) obtained a trademark on 16 May for the term 'Web 2.0' that covers trade shows, live event, business expos/conferences, educational conferences, tutorials, and workshops in the computer, communications, and IT industries.  :

The company is already sending its lawyers out after 'offenders':  target #1, a nonprofit networking organization for IT professionals.

International Class: 035
Class Status: Active
Arranging and conducting live events, namely, trade shows, expositions and business conferences in various fields, namely, computers, communications, and information technology

International Class: 041
Class Status: Active
Organizing and conducting educational conferences, tutorials and workshops in the fields of computers, communication and information technology

http://tarr.uspto.gov/servlet/tarr?regser=serial&entry=78322306

IT@Cork is a not-for-profit networking organisation for IT professionals. IT@Cork organises regular information and networking events which are free for its members.

One of these events - the upcoming Web 2.0 half-day conference is the target of a cease and desist letter (below) from the legal team of O’Reilly publishers. Basically O’Reilly are claiming to have applied for a trademark for the term “Web 2.0″ and therefore IT@Cork can’t use the term for its conference. Apparantly use of the term “Web 2.0″ is a “flagrant violation” of their trademark rights!...

full article: http://www.tomrafteryit.net/oreilly-trad...on-itcork/
more info on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/traftery/153074441/

[regic]

O'Reilly is admitting they acted like shits. 

In retrospect, we wish we'd contacted the IT@Cork folks personally and talked over the issue before sending legal correspondence. In fact, it turns out that they asked Tim to speak at the conference, though our Web 2.0 Conference team didn't know that. We've sent a followup letter to Donagh Kiernan, agreeing that IT@Cork can use the Web 2.0 name this year. While we stand by the principle that we need to protect our "Web 2.0" mark from unauthorized use in the context of conferences, we apologize for the way we initially handled the issue with IT@Cork.

full article: http://radar.oreilly.com/archives/2006/0..._20_s.html